Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method to visually communicate with a vehicle. More precisely, embodiments give the possibility to request commands for the vehicle as well as to obtain information about the vehicle.
Description of the Related Art
Vehicles providing various remote services such as remote starting, door locking or light switching by actuating buttons on a key fob have been known and widely used. However, such systems requiring the action of at least one hand and can be inconvenient when the hands of the user are full.
Recently, there have been technical attempts to detect the intentions of the user without having the user use her/his hands. Such technical attempts have notably been focused on automatic trunk opening via a smart key device. For example, such systems require the user to stand on one foot while moving the second foot below a motion detector placed on the vehicle, or require: the user to stand for a relatively long period of time in front of a presence detector placed on the vehicle.
Though such systems provide certain ease and comfort to the user by enabling the opening of the backside door while the hands are not free, they have numerous drawbacks. Such systems might generate balance issues for the user which could result in an uncomfortable position. But mostly, in such systems the communication between the user and the vehicle is extremely limited resulting in misinterpretation from the vehicle, resulting in inadvertent actuation or unknown condition of the vehicle. For example, the backside door is unwillingly open by the system while the user is standing behind the trunk or the backside door is just unlatched but not open enough for the user to clearly see it. Thus, an apparatus and method to visually communicate with a vehicle solving the aforementioned problems of limited communication is desired. (Related Publication JP2015-021237A)